Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader-Chapter 1261: Alliance

The nearby gentlemen and ladies were deeply surprised to see the protagonist of the ball so easily agree to Viscount Beldan’s "invitation."

In Loen, when guests attended banquets or balls, leaving the hall to enter the garden was not considered impolite. Taking a stroll under the moonlight and enjoying the flower-scented night breeze was something quite refined. However, it often also implied a rendezvous.

Such matters were usually handled through tacit understanding, with both parties "coincidentally" encountering each other in the garden. Who would directly "invite" someone like this?

This kind of ungentlemanly approach was more like the ball traditions of Intis and Feynapotter... Rumor had it that Viscount Beldan had lived in Trier for a period of time. Could this habit have been formed there?

But Miss Angie shouldn’t have agreed either... As expected, no matter how dignified an illegitimate daughter appeared, she still lacked a complete aristocratic education.

As they watched the two leave, some guests could not help but whisper among themselves. They did not dare offend Ebner, so most of the gossip was directed at "Amon."

Even though those idle remarks were spoken softly, they could not escape the perception of Ebner and Amon. Naturally, both of them heard everything.

Ebner clearly saw that the so-called "Miss Angie Lavran" had already curled her lips upward.

At this moment, the two had walked deep into the garden. Ebner stopped and frowned as he asked, "Earlier, you ’left a message’ to meet me. What exactly are you planning to do?"

Amon let out a soft chuckle and replied irrelevantly, "Since they’re speaking ill of me behind my back, it wouldn’t be too much if I gave them a little scare later, would it?"

Ebner did not hurry. While maintaining full vigilance, he sneered and said, "You actually care about that?"

"I’m the God of Pranks, after all. Of course I have to play pranks!" Amon casually plucked a flower from nearby and sniffed it before continuing, "Didn’t I say we’d meet after the ball? Why are you in such a rush?"

Her voice was soft and sweet. Combined with the image of a blonde girl holding a rose, she truly resembled a young lady meeting her beloved.

But Ebner would not be deceived by Her appearance. After all, the being before him was the most adept at deception in this world—not only the God of Pranks, but also the God of Deceit. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Therefore, Ebner did not bother with further probing and repeated his previous question. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish at this ball?"

Amon glanced back at him and said with a smile, "I have many purposes. Which one would you like to hear?"

"If possible, all of them!" Ebner showed no courtesy.

Amon had not expected Ebner to climb so readily once given the opportunity. His reaction was completely different from what She had anticipated, and so Her smile grew wider.

She raised a finger to Her pink lips and looked up at him from the side. "I can’t tell you for free. You’ll have to show some sincerity."

Who did She learn that expression and gesture from? Ebner complained inwardly, while asking on the surface, "What kind of sincerity do you want?"

Amon looked at him for several seconds and said with a smile, "I want to form an alliance with you.

"In the short term, we don’t actually have any conflicts of interest. And we both want to find where Sefirah Castle is... Isn’t that enough of a foundation for an alliance?"

"An alliance?" Ebner had considered many possibilities, but never expected that Amon had come to him for an "alliance."

Of course, very little of Amon’s words could be trusted. Earlier, in the sea outside East Balam, the Saintess of Gray and Suah had been His allies as well—yet He had sold them out.

"At first, I intended to take you down... You should know that Sequence 2 of my pathway is called Trojan Horse of Destiny. Although I’m currently just an ordinary avatar, I can still apply some abilities in a preliminary way—for example, causing certain errors to appear in someone’s fate for a period of time, making their calls for help fail to achieve the correct result.

"But all of those abilities are ineffective against you... In Backlund, the support you can obtain exceeds my expectations. So instead of making you an enemy, forming an alliance with you isn’t that strange, is it?

"Moreover, we were evenly matched before. Neither of us suffered any major losses. There shouldn’t be any obstacle to an alliance." Amon twirled the rose in Her hand as She explained with a smile.

Heh, unexpectedly frank... But it could also be preparation for a better deception. As Ebner’s thoughts turned, he did not refuse outright.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "And what benefits would I gain from forming an alliance with you? Also, don’t mention something as illusory as Sefirah Castle. What exactly is the foundation of this alliance?"

Amon looked him up and down again and said with a smile, "Alvin, although I don’t know how you created this Cognizer avatar—after all, you roam the starry sky and will inevitably obtain items from pathways I’m unfamiliar with—

"the Reader pathway is clearly a dead end for you. Your true goal must still be advancing to Attendant of Mysteries, or even Fool!

"Other than the Church of Evernight, only Zaratul has the pathway to Attendant of Mysteries... You and He are bound to become enemies.

"And Zaratul has thrown in his lot with the Loen royal family, intending to use the power of the Augustus family to deal with both you and me.

"I also need the Augustus family’s ritual to complete my own apotheosis ritual...

"So we have a common enemy, and naturally, a need for alliance.

"Mm, I promise to help you kill Zaratul, and you help me replace George III in his ritual."

After saying this, Amon looked at Ebner expectantly.

The acting was good, and it sounded reasonable... But this was a lie! Ebner sneered inwardly, because he clearly knew Amon’s true reason for targeting the Loen royal family.

After all, it had been him—the "old grandfather"—who had guided Trissy to change her identity, approach a certain court noble, and create an "anomaly of fate," causing Amon to mistakenly believe that Pallez was hiding within the Sodorak Palace.

Of course, Amon had also noticed that it was a trap set specifically for Him, and after some "decoding," traced the source back to Zaratul and the Loen royal family.

—This too had been Ebner’s misdirection... To accomplish it, he had even pulled out the Sealed Artifact "0-08" from the historical void to complete the arrangement.

As numerous thoughts flashed through his mind, Ebner also plucked a rose and asked, "It sounds reasonable. But since you know what existences stand behind me, why would I need to form an alliance with you to deal with Zaratul?"

(End of Chapter)